Meta

Honey Badger Hangout: Anita you so cray!

Shout outs

Permutation of Ninjas is asking us all to email RAINN on March 15th to change their definition of rape to include the majority of male victims.

RAINN currently uses a definition of rape that excludes most male rape victims—in particular male victims of female rapists—RAINN then promotes statistics based on this definition, minimizing the extent and scope of sexual victimization of men and boys. The tumbler Permutation of Ninjas is asking us all to email RAINN to change their definition to include the majority of male victims of rape.

For more information see the link to Permutation of Ninja’s tumblr in the show notes.

In an interesting twist, RAINN has called the White House task force charged with creating a plan to reduce rape on college campuses to task.

RAINN has urged the task focus to remain focused on the true cause of the problem. “In the last few years, there has been an unfortunate trend towards blaming “rape culture” for the extensive problem of sexual violence on campuses. While it is helpful to point out the systemic barriers to addressing the problem, it is important to not lose sight of a simple fact: Rape is caused not by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions, of a small percentage of the community, to commit a violent crime,” said the letter to the task force from RAINN’s president, Scott Berkowitz, and vice president for public policy, Rebecca O’Connor.

HAL-EH-LU-YAH!

Now even though we’re all for calling RAINN to task for it’s misleading statistics on rape, RAINN is making sense here. How about we not promote a culture of censorship over things people do that are NOT-RAPE… let’s recognize that we need to stop actual rapists.

RAINN also gives a shout out to common sense and at least acknowledges male victims exist:

RAINN’s recommendations pointed to research that suggests that more than 90% of college rapes are committed by about 3% of college men (reliable research about female perpetrators is harder to come by).

The group Shared Parenting Consortium, struck a blow against UK fathers this February with their successful lobby effort to change Clause 11 of the government’s Children and Family’s Bill. The original Clause 11 stated “A court …is as respects each parent… unless the contrary is shown, that involvement of that parent in the life of the child concerned will further the child’s welfare”

The original promoted parents being in the life of their children unless evidence proves otherwise.

The Consortium argued that the wording did not explain clearly that the child’s welfare is paramount. Their lobbying led to the amendment of Clause 11 to reflect that the “involvement” of fathers might be no more than indirect contact. This conveys to judges that they are obliged to order contact, but not very much.

Stay strong UK fathers – our hearts go out to you.

In more recent news a new men’s rights group started in Halifax Nova Scotia on March 1st with the debut of their website,

The Site for Men’s Rights Halifax is full of good information from articles to videos discussing the issues.

Sammich Heist when asked why he started Men’s Rights Halifax said the following:

Lack of services for men and the inequalities taking place with domestic violence were part of the reason. [Men’s Rights Halifax] is going to address issues like lack of support for male victims of domestic violence, male genital mutilation, false allegations, reproductive rights, paternity fraud, discrimination in child custody cases and suicide rates.

If anyone lives in Halifax or the Canadian east coast, Men’s Rights Halifax needs you to send in tips, articles, photos, postering, anything that exposes misandry and gets the word out.

Elsewhere Men’s Human Rights Ireland is headed towards the spotlight, the movement is planning on going live with their site menshumanrightsireland.org by the end of march. Their goals range from drawing attention to unfair family courts to highlighting the way issues like domestic violence are viewed in Irish society.

Jim Byset, the MHRI organizer, stated in an interview with Honey Badger Radio:

There are a number of advocacy groups and campaigns operating in Ireland that don’t seem very interested in showing the whole picture, which in turn leads to the perception that issues like domestic violence are gendered problems.

Men’s Human Rights Ireland is adamant about making a change for the better in Ireland. They have a strong team prepared to take on the challenges facing Irish men.

Good work, gents.

With the start of these new organizations and the growth of the Men’s Human Rights Movement we’ve made one more step forward to true equality.

These groups need all the help and support they can get to ensure justice is served for all. Please go check out their sites and make your voice heard as well.

The hashtag-banbossy twitter trend is a campaign by feminists to create social pressure to eliminate the use of the word bossy as a description for girls when they act bossy. It’s a bossy effort in its own right, as it’s basically an effort to get boys and girls alike accustomed to bossiness in females who cannot engage in a cooperative effort with other people without acting bossy. The effort uses the false pretense that using the word “bossy” is bullying to disguise the way feminists are trying to boss people into tolerating bossy women.

Guys get called patriarchal, oppressive, domineering, overbearing, authoritarian, dictatorial, cocky, demanding, draconian, brutal and conceited; stuffed shirts, hard-assed, iron-fisted, and heavy-handed… but that’s all okay right? Just as long as when girls act the same way that gets guys so labeled, they don’t get called bossy. Because as we have learned, to feminists, things that happen to both sexes only matter when they happen to women and girls. Then they’re an excuse to dictate everyone else’s rights. But that’s not bossy, is it?

Anita’s Theft

The feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, has been a controversial figure since the moment she stepped onto the scene. Popular media paints her as a victim. A strong woman in the face of rampant misogyny. A daring lady with the nerve to stand up to internet bullying. Her actions, however, tell a different story.

When she used game footage that was not her own, people began to question her status as a gamer. There were whispers but in time her hardcore fans made peace with it. When a video was released of her openly stating that she was in fact not a gamer at all, the fans remained undeterred. They convinced themselves that the footage had been taken out of context. In time, that too was forgotten. Many were convinced that this was just another slanderous attempt to discredit her.

Those that saw her for what she really was, fell into despair. They’d hit a wall. Not one of them imagined that the undeniable truth would come in the form of a professional artist. Tamara Grey had never heard of Anita Sarkeesian. Her recent appearance in the media brought the unthinkable to Tammy’s attention. Someone had stolen her work. It had been taken by the team of Miss Sarkeesian and used to promote an agenda she wanted nothing to do with. So she did what anyone would do. She confronted the thief and asked that Anita cease all use of her work. Both Anita and Jonathan McIntosh calmly told her that they were a non-profit and that the law was on their side. This time her fans were not as forgiving. The backlash was immense and many that defended her in the past couldn’t do it any longer. Anita is backed into a corner and no one is coming to her aid.

Saying “thievery” is a microaggression. Sorry you feel that way, but doesn’t negate the fact, that even if your art is non-commercial from another intellectual property no apology is owed due to “Free Speech” and “Freedom of Expression”. You can’t demand them to show you their “Fair Use proof”.

[…]

You have to educate yourself very fast on this information. Sorry this happened to you. No one thinks about asking or cares until they are called on it. Our organization recommends watermarking all artwork to protect yourselves that blithely assuming people will do the right thing. They do this in other fields and no credits are given — like scientific research. The public is too lazy to try to step up on requests with it being so easy use search engines… Perhaps watermarking will deter some. Is it fair? No it’s not and what we are saying it will take a long time for it to change. But in the meantime, to protect your talent, protect your work with a watermark.

I love that cowkitty is pleading for this to be handled calmly and professionally AFTER signal blasting a crude accusation across social media where it would obviously get picked up and distributed. That is disingenuous at *best*. She lit a match and is now trying to backtrack, which is really unfair.

Last week our good friends the Good Man Project offered up more of their excellent parenting advice. Building on their previous works in which they recommended teaching boys that they are oppressors, they now are recommending teaching boys that they are future rapists.

Let’s have a look-see, shall we?

It would seem imperative then that we, as a nation of dads and moms and parties involved in the childhood business must also, in addition to strengthening the core of our young girls, make a more substantial attempt to soften our boys. Maybe soften isn’t the proper word, not exactly. Does there exist a catchall word for “don’t rape anyone, asshole”? Maybe not.

And for your daughter, let’s empower her by talking at length with obsessive glee about how fragile she is.

Raising strong girls is not enough because a strong girl, even the strongest of mind, body, will, and spirit, can too easily be fractured into a thousand unrecognizable pieces, a glass bottle of glitter shattered on a venetian tile floor, by a physically stronger, drunker, misogynistic boy. We can cobble together and restore some of the sparkle, but it’s doomed to be mixed with crumbs, dust, and dirt, no matter how studious we are. A dulling of the shine. A repeal of the magic.

Coincidentally a heartfelt post on reddit describes the end result of this kind of upbringing on the innocence of a young boy.

Anyone who would teach their children not to rape, and that they are potential rapists because of their gender, is a child abuser, and unfit to be a parent and that’s all there is to it.
Notice, I didn’t say “teach them that rape is wrong” I said “teach them not to rape.” See the difference? Teaching a black child that “stealing is wrong” is different than teaching them “not to steal.” The latter examples of both of sexist, and racist, respectively, while the former are just moral lessons that we teach our children at appropriate times.

[…]

I was fucking 8, hadn’t had sex-ed yet, and I was being told that I was going to grow up to rape children unless I fixed myself.
This is what people are proposing doing to their children, convincing them that they have the potential to be rapists if they don’t stop themselves.
How has that affected me?
I used to be a cuddly little kid.
[…]
After what my mom did to me, I developed a severe aversion to physical contact. She made it so that the main way that I bonded with people was tainted, I was not ok with touching other people or being touched. If anyone touched me I’d tense up and try not to cry. I became quiet and isolated, and I stopped making friends. I also became a bully, one of my deepest regrets.
Additionally, it made me feel as if ANY sexual contact was inherently victimizing.

Feminists often claim that we are living in a rape culture. They say that male sexuality is so toxic that it can not be contained on its own. That each man is a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment, waiting to rob young women of their innocence. It is with this in mind that some have suggested that we teach our young men not to rape. To feminists, men have no will power, and any of them is a potential rapist. We know that despite this idea, only a small number of men do rape. So what, then, are to become of these boys that are taught that they are potential monsters? What happens to children that are raised to go through life with the constant fear that they will hurt someone they love? Is it worth it to rob boys of their childhood, to provide a dubious benefit to girls? For feminists, it is a sacrifice that they are more than willing to make.

Ariel Schochet, a wrongfully incarcerated father who was released in October 2013, has initiated a class action lawsuit against the county of Bergen, New Jersey on behalf of inmates of the county’s work release program. The lawsuit addresses the program’s practice of imposing fees for room, board, and the lease of tracking equipment – fees which create self-perpetuating actionable debt to the county. The inmates cannot be released unless they pay their fees, but while in custody, the fees and support debt continues to accumulate.

Schochet was released following a hearing in which the state’s supreme court determined that the county violated his due process rights by incarcerating him for failure to pay an ordered amount of child support without a hearing. According to the Bergen Dispatch, the Bergen County Superior Court has been routinely incarcerating noncustodial individuals who fall behind on child support or alimony payments without allowing them the ability-to-pay hearing to which they are legally entitled. The county has been enrolling quote deadbeat unquote parents in its work release program and heaping additional debt upon them. The class action lawsuit seeks to force the county to follow laws related to the civil rights of individuals accused of willfully failing to meet support obligations.